Railway safety apparatus.



PATENTED APR.16, 1907'- G.E.RYAN. RAILWAY SAFETY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28,1906.

' Mums-sum 1.

W Y W M m INVENTOR ATTOHNQ YS 1) WITNESSES 17' No. 850,790. v PATENTED APR. 16, 1907.

G. E. RYAN.

2 ,BHEETB-SHEBT 2.

WITNESSES I I 4 INVENTOH n fieolyel .flyan I I I I 8M A TTOHNEYS To all whom it may concern.-

UNITED s'rA rEs PATENT onnron.

GEORGE E. RYAN, OF-NEW YOlilK, N. 'Y.

RAILWAY-,SAFETY AP ARATU i Specification of Letters Patent.

-Patented April 16, 1907.

Application filed September as, 1905. Serial in. 336,532,

Be it known that I, GEORGE E.:RrAN-, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, Laurel Hill,.borough of Queens, in the county of ueens fandfState of New York, have invente arrangement is such that theapp'aratus will forth in the claim.

operate to prevent head-on collisions as well as rear-end collisions, and the devices-emtion. v

The invention consists in the construction and combination-of parts to'be more fully described hereinafter. and

Reference is to tion, in WlllCh similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts inaIlthefig pres.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing a portion of a railway-track in plan and illustwo half devices. through a case of oneof the. track devices trating the manner of applying the invention in practice. I Fig. 2 is a side e ing a'portionof the rail and further illustrattical central section through one of the track Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectiontaken andv showing the mefc'hanisn jtherem inplan';

and Fig.5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating;

the of a contact device, which constitutesafeatureof the invention.

1 1 represent the rails of a railway-track u on which are arranged in the road-bed at a suitable distance apart. This distance should be suiiicient'to enable a train to come to a full stop after assing one track device before reaching t e next. In this connection it should beunderstood that the longitudinal distances on the track are muchre'gluced in the drawings, so that the distance between :fiacent track devices may represent a e or more.

The track devices 2 are'preferably double,

as illustrated in Fig. 1"that is, they are conanew and Im- -proved Railway Safety Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de ployed are entirely automatic in their ofperaparticularly setevation' show structed in two'distinct parts or mechanisms.-

One of these mechanisms cooperates-with a train passing in-one direction, while the other ,mechanism. cooperates wlth a train passing in "the" opposite direction. In Figs. 3 and 4.1

have illustrated only one of these mechanisms, while in Fig. 1 I- have illustrated the complete or double devices. It may be said at this point, however, thatthe wiring illus- -.trated -"in Fig. 1 re resents simply the wiring =which is employe for trains assing in one direction on1ythat is, from t e right to the left. In this way confusion will be avoided. It should be understood, however, that in practice the same wiring is adopted in connection with the second set of mechanisms,

each system of track devices and wiring being an exact duplicate of'the other system; As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, each track device which-is connected by means of a link 8 with a cam '9, said c'am being rigidly attached to a I 'transverse shaft 10, which is rotatably mount'ed in the frame 4 and the side of the casejas indicated; This'cam 9 is substantially heart-shaped, as shown, the point of theheartI-being cut away, so as to present a shoulder 11, as indicated in Fig. 3. Thecam ing the devices employed. Fig. 3 is aver:v

iwhi'ch is provided with an opening 15, through.

figl ere -isiguided a trip-pm 16. The low'e "extremity-inf this trip-pin carries a rolls hichirests upon the face of the cam j f9, as s wn. i 'Ato'ne side of the pin 16 a roller Referring more particularly. to the parts,

"18 F715- prdvided'which rests against the face ofth e in and operates to reduce the friction in in'g' -ithe pinvertically. On one side .the 03111935 provided with a counterweight 19, .whic'h.tends,-to rotate the cani toward the ioo left, as, illustrated in Fig. 3. Within the coil 6 there is provided a core 20, which is pivota'lly connected with a link 21. The opposite extremity of this'link 21 is attached to, a dog 22, which is pivotally mounted at 23 and formed witha nose 24, which is adapted'to engage under the shoulder 11., so as to hold .the-cam'-9. inthe position shown in Fig. 3.

In this connection it shouldilie understood that the "weight 19 operates to hold the 75 comprises a case 3, in which there is provided I a frame 4, carrying oppositely-disposed coils be had to the apconnpany- .ing drawings, forming a part of this specifica i 1 c. shoulder-.11 against the nose of the dog. 1ts upper face the nose 24 is provided with an upwardly p'rojecting pin 25, which is adapted to engage the edge ot the shoulder 11,- as in- ..dicated. The do 22 is provided with'a laterally-projecting not 26, under which there is orce the nose 24 of the dog toward the cam. I In order ,to prevent water from passing 1 into the interior of the case, the upper edge of the opening 15 is providedwith an upwai dly- 1o projectin lip 28, and the pin 16isprovided with a ea" or head 29, the under side whereof is provided with a groove 30. ,When the'pin is 1n its deressed position, thisgroove 30 receives the ip 28, and the passing of water into I -the interior of the case at this point is eflectually revented. w When it is desired to use the track devices 5- provided a spring 27, and this spring tends to 2 for controlling electric circuits, the shaft' is providedwith a rigid-contact-arm 31, as illustrated in Fig. 3 and this contact-arm is adapted to engage with contacts 32, so as 'to close the circuit in any'common manner.

It should'be understood that the'vertical section Fig. 3 is taken lookingtoward the 2 5 left in Fig. 1, so that the coils 5 are all disosed at the right of the track in passing om left to right,'the coils 6 being disposed oppositely, as indicated. In wiring the a' paratus I provide a battery 33, one si e whereof is connected with the ground at 34,

the'opposite side of the battery being connected with a line-wire 35.- Just beyond each of the track devices with respect to the direction in which each train passes I pro- '35 vide contact devices-36. From'theline-wire conductors 37 lead to the contact devices,

respectively, 'one of these contact devices being illustrated in Fig. 5. It com rises a pair of contact-plates 38 and 39, whic are adapt- 4 ed to be brought together by a passing traln; For this purpose the contact devices are set close to one of the rails,'as indicated in Fig.

1, so as to be engaged by the flange of thecar-wheel in a well-understood manner.' The conductor 37 is connected with the plate 38, while three conductors 40, 41, and 42 are connected with the plate 39. The conductors 40 pass rearwardly along the trackand are connected, respectively, with the coils 5. From each of these coils 5 a conductor 43 leads, and these'conductors are grounded by attachment to the rails at the points 44. To' the conductor 40 aforesaid the"wire 41 is attached, so that the wire 40 is connected 'by a branch with the plate 39 of the contact device rearwardly on the track.

- I have indicated the contact devices'collectively by the numeral 36. However, the contact device which is in advance of the position of a train located at the arrow in ig. 1 is indicated s ccifically by the reference-numeral '36, w \ile the contact device next in the rear is indicated specifically by the reference-numeral 36*. The wire 42 leadsfrointhe contact 36 back through the as shown.

' the train will coil of the track device which is in the rear of the train, and his coil is connected with the ground throu'g a conductor which isfat tached to the-rail at 45. From-the conductor 42 a branch conductor 46 leads adjacent to thecoil 6, and this conductor passes through a second contact device 47. Beyond the contact device 47 the conductor 46' 1s connected with the line 35' at the oint 48,

In connection with eac 'of the track devices 2 there is arranged'one, of these contact devices 47, the same bein preferably arranged just in advance of t e corre sponding track device, so as to be operated. by a train just before reaching the track device.

The Q eration. of the system will now be described, and throu heat the description the coils 5-will be un erstood to be settingcoils, their purpose being to set the track de- 8 5 vices, while the coils 6 will be understood as releasin -coils, their purpose being to release" the trac devices. Assuming that a train is disposed near the position of thearrow shown in Fig. 1 and 0 that it has just passed the right-hand one of the two middle track devices and is moving toward the leftthat is, in the'dire'ctionin dicated by the arrow-w hen the trainan rives at the contact device 36 the plates 38 and 39 thereof are brought together: When this occurs, a circuit is closed from the battery -33 to the line 35 through the conductor.

37 to the contact-plate 38. In this way circuits are closed through the wires 40, 41, and mo 42. The circuit through the conductor 40 passes through the coil 5 of the track device which is just in the-rear of the train, energizing this coil in such a way as .to set the track device in amanner which will a pear more fully hereinafter. From this coi the circuit is closed through the ground at-44 by means I of the conductor 43. v The circuit closed through the conductor 41 passes throughthe' coil5. of the track device just in advance ofthe train, the current passing by the 'conduc tor. 43, which is .connected withthis track device, to the rail at 44. In this way the track device in the immediate rear of the train be-- come'sset and thetrack device in adv'ance'of 5 the train becomes set. A circuit is also closed through the conductor '42, which extends to the track device which is not immediately in the rear but next to the rear track device. This conductor 42 closes the circuit through the coil 6 of the track device now referredto, so that this track device becomes released, returning to its normal inoperative )osition. In this way as the train proceeds lwey ond the trackdevice36 there is maintained a set track device just in advance thereof and a set track device just in the rear thereof. The set track device in advance of e maintained set until the train reaches one of the contact devices 47.

coil of the track device in advance of the engine, so that the track device will be returned to its normal position. In this way it should beunderstood that as a train passes along the track the apparatus operates automatically to maintain the track devices in set posititons in advance and in the rear of the train, and just before the train'reaches the track device in advance thereof the apparatus operates automatically to release this device. It should be understood that some part of the train running on this track is provided with a trip-plate or similar device adapted to be engaged by the track'device in order to shut off the power of the locomotive, apply the brakes, or give a signal to the engineer.

When the track device is in its set position,

as indicated in Fig.3, the pin 16 is projected upwardly to such a height that it lies within. the path of the trip device supposed to be carried by the train. When the track devices are in their released position, the pin 16 becomes depressed, the roller 17) lying substantially in the notch 13 of the cam.

If two trains should approach dangerously rear to each other passing in the same direction, the train in the rear would strikethe 3 track device which is set just in the rearof the train in advance and would have its power shut off or otherwise would have itfs'i engineer informed as to the presence of the other train. if two trains should advance going in different directions, one of the trains would engage with the track device which is maintained set in. advance of the other train,-

so that even in this case a collision wouldbe prevented. I

Having thus described myinvention, I

claim as new'an'd desire to secure Letters Patent i f y In apparatus of the class described, in combination, a plurality of track devices adapted to be disposed at intervals along the roadway, aplurality of contact devices, circuits connecting sa'idcontact devices with said track devices and afl'ordingm'eans for setting a track device in advance of the train and a track device in the rearof said train,

and affording means for releasing the track devlcesm succession m therear'o said tram, a second set of contact devlces'and circuits connecting the same fWith said oontactdevices and affording means for releasing the contact devices in advance of the train.

- In testimony whereof I haveisignedmy name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

a R E GE EQRY N.

- Witnesses? t V i F. D .-A M N, JNo. M. BITTER 

